Oh, so it’s just an upper body exercise then? Nope. In order to counteract the pull from your abdominal muscles, which is an upward pull on the pelvis, you need to tuck your pelvis under and at the same time, lengthen the legs away. This also helps to reduce the stress on your lower back. Not sure what I mean? Look at this:
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Why we need to talk about reversing "text neck"
Jane Arlow • May 22, 2020
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We all spend a lot of time in our daily lives in what’s called “spinal flexion” – hunched over computers, phones and steering wheels. As we tend to spend so much time in this position, our bodies adapt to make this our default posture – spines rounded, heads and shoulders forwards. The muscles in our backs become weaker as they sit in a permanently lengthened position, those in our chests and neck become weaker, but tighter.
And in Pilates, a lot of our exercises also emphasise the same position. Think of any of the exercises where you curl your head and shoulders up from the mat such as chest lift, single or double leg extension, the hundreds.
In order to reverse some of the effects of our daily postural habits, it’s important that we work in extension during every class and when we practice at home.
I often get questions about this family of exercises so if you’ve ever had questions but not got around to asking, here are some of the most frequently asked. Please do email me if I haven’t covered your question!
How do I know if it’s a spinal extension exercise?
Generally, it’s an exercise where you’re face down, either on all fours or on lying on your front where you sequentially extend the back vertebra by vertebra.
What muscles are we working in a spinal extension exercise? We usually work the muscles that run down either side of your spine, (erector spinae) and the deep muscles that sit underneath them. The various different extension exercises also emphasise working other back muscles that are essential for stabilisation of the torso (which is why we change which ones we do from week to week).
It hurts my lower back when I perform extensions like this. What am I doing wrong?
You know when I ask you to pull your tummy button into your spine? That’s to ensure that your abs are engaged and are providing support during both the extension phase and while you’re lowering your trunk back to the floor. If you keep sufficient abdominal engagement throughout the exercise, you’ll avoid over-arching your back. While this engagement is important during simple spinal extensions like diamond press, once you move into more challenging exercises like swimming, it’s essential.
OK, I’ve pulled my belly button in, lengthened my legs away and now I’ll just lift my upper body off the floor? Not exactly…. Imagine you’ve got a rubber band anchored at your feet that is being pulled out and up from the crown of your head. It’s not just a lift, it’s an elongation.
Right, got it. It’s still difficult though. My back just seems to hinge rather than extending sequentially. Why’s that? Often, one of the challenges is that the thoracic spine (the middle section of your spine) is in a permanently rounded position. The muscles that manage the movement of your shoulder blades, particularly, have got lengthened into that position and have “forgotten” what they’re supposed to be doing. This is when I encourage you to imagine that you have a pencil between your shoulder blades to practice pulling them together (can be done standing; seated using a band; or lying in a t-shape on your front, lifting your arms away from the floor and back towards your butt).
Think I’ve mastered the spinal extension now. What’s next?
Thanks for asking. It’s everyone’s favourite (well, one of my favourites, anyway) - swimming.
Not only does this exercise focus on spinal extension, but you also have to activate the rotational actions of the spinal extensors to keeping your body still and avoid rocking or rolling from side to side. AND as a bonus, it encourages you to activate your glutes to lift your legs off the floor and your quads to keep the legs straight.
This means that this exercise works directly to offset the posture of anyone who sits at a desk for a living! You’re welcome.
How can I train myself to do swimming better?
Start by simply adding the arm and leg extensions to the spinal extension – think of reaching the limbs out long. Legs and arms are heavy so you need to make sure that you’ve got enough abdominal strength to support your lower back.
If you’re comfortable here, start slow by extending opposite arm and leg while the other arm and leg stay on the floor. Again, think elongation not just lifting. Are both hip bones still grounded?
Can you now extend both arms and legs, and slowly, extend them even further alternately and oppositely?
Once you’re able to stay stable while moving slowly in this position, you can start to make the movement faster – the leg action should be like a flutter kick, from the hip.
So, that’s it, the most frequently asked questions about spinal extensions. Now, off you pop and get extending.
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